I heard on The Current on CBC Radio 1 today that it’s the ten-year anniversary of the SARS epidemic that hit Toronto in 2003. I remember it well, not because I was hit with SARS, but because like many who were sick and injured at the time, using the health care system became difficult. For…
Tag: Brain injury
Nineteen-Point EEG and Evoked Potentials Tests
I went for another 19-point EEG assessment at the ADD Centre this past week. I’ve had, I think, three of these before, the last one being in September 2007. Things have changed! First off, much better cap. It’s stretchy and easily goes over all my hair. Plus the electrodes are on the outside. The syringe…
A Medical Vacation, A Writing Avocation
Vacation time! Well, okay, not a vacation where you go off and lie on a beach somewhere, more a vacation from something: medical appointments!!! My final two brain biofeedback appointments went well. People in real life saw a sudden change in my sense of humour and were amazed by it. I saw a small change…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Reading Progress
Reading is such a complex process, there’s so much to learn! Two weeks ago, the gamma brain biofeedback protocol was changed again. So now after the three-minute assessment and five-minute heart-rate variability screen (aka deep breathing in sync with heart rate cycle), I now do one gamma feedback screen. We work on enhancing my gamma…
Thinking About Alpha Waves Again During Gamma Brain Biofeedback
Why do I have alpha waves intruding in my sleep? Don't know. What effect do they have? Not sure. Well, what do alpha waves do? (I ask the psychologist instead of the neuropsychiatrist.) Daydreaming, creativity, stuff like that. Is that it? Not sure. What else? Don't know. Why do you want me not to have…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: A Change
After the reassessment comes a change up in treatment protocol.* Instead of three gamma brainwave biofeedback screens, I did two, the bowling and maze screens, then the “feeling” screen. Huh? During that three-minute screen, I had to pay attention to how I felt and answer the questions: What does it feel like when my alpha…
Gamma Brainwave Biofeedback: Heart Rate and Mobility
On the way to my first brain biofeedback session since NaNoWriMo began, I wondered if writing fiction every morning for six days straight would've improved my gamma output. Maybe, maybe not, was the answer. But what really struck my trainer was how my heart rate had dropped: all the way to the low 100s. Most…
Gamma Brain Biofeedback: A Circuit Reconnects
Numbers don't tell the whole story. They may stubbornly keep dropping then rising then dropping, yet improvements blossom in the brain. A big one for me last week. It dawned on me all of a sudden that I may be able to organize an event. It's not that I haven't tried since my brain injury,…
“Concussion is Brain Injury” is Coming!
Not much new in gamma brain biofeedback land, except that I keep trucking along. And I really need to try and go twice a week again. It isn’t so much my schedule that’s the problem, but my energy levels within my schedule. I will have to figure out a solution! On the exciting front: my…